Industrial Cathedral

Industrial Cathedral
"Industrial Cathedral" charcoal on paper 131 x 131 cm Jane Bennett. Finalist in 1998 Dobell Drawing Prize Art Gallery of NSW Finalist 1998 Blake Prize Winner 1998 Hunter's Hill Open Art Prize

About Me

My photo
Sydney, NSW, Australia
I'm an Industrial Heritage Artist who paints "en plein air".If it's damaged, derelict, doomed and about to disappear, I'll be there to paint it.

Friday 19 June 2015

The triumph of the machines


In early April 2015 I was asked to paint some of the last manual port movements at the Patrick terminal in Port Botany.
Now the containers are still being unloaded by port workers, but automated straddle cranes stack the containers onto trucks, replacing many port workers.
I was permitted to paint and set up my easel a week before the April change-over.
plein air oil painting by artist Jane Bennett of the last non automated straddle cranes operating at Patrick Terminal Port Botany
Painting a panorama of Port Botany
31 x 153cm oil on canvas 2015

Enquiries 

My viewpoint was from a narrow balcony above a 2 storey gatehouse.
On the ground floor was the First Aid room, while on the top floor, port workers facing redundancy were receiving career advice.
plein air oil painting by artist Jane Bennett of the last non automated straddle cranes operating at Patrick Terminal Port Botany
Painting a panorama of Port Botany
31 x 153cm oil on canvas 2015

Enquiries


















From my vantage point I could see the yard being prepared for the new automated system.
plein air oil painting by artist Jane Bennett of the last non automated straddle cranes operating at Patrick Terminal Port Botany
Painting a panorama of Port Botany
31 x 153cm
oil on canvas 2015
Enquiries



















In the centre, concrete barriers were arranged in grids to separate the trucks from the construction.
To the right, the giant stacks of containers were removed, leaving an eerily empty yard.
plein air oil painting by artist Jane Bennett of the last non automated straddle cranes operating at Patrick Terminal Port Botany
Painting a panorama of Port Botany
31 x 153cm oil on canvas 2015

Enquiries
To the left is the new observation tower, as yet unmanned, where the new Autostrads will be controlled by radar.
plein air oil painting by artist Jane Bennett of the last non automated straddle cranes operating at Patrick Terminal Port Botany
Painting a panorama of Port Botany
31 x 153cm oil on canvas 2015

Enquiries 

















At night it looked desolate and lonely. 
As the new driverless vehicles are remotely controlled, there won't be the same requirement for lighting the yard.
plein air oil painting by artist Jane Bennett of the last non automated straddle cranes operating at Patrick Terminal Port Botany
Painting the giant straddle cranes  Port Botany
75 x 100cm oil on canvas 2015

Enquiries 
At the moment, the giant straddle cranes are still operating with drivers.
plein air oil painting by artist Jane Bennett of the last non automated straddle cranes operating at Patrick Terminal Port Botany
Painting the giant straddle cranes  Port Botany
75 x 100cm oil on canvas 2015

Enquiries 
One day the giant straddle cranes and even the trucks may become driverless.
plein air oil painting by artist Jane Bennett of the last non automated straddle cranes operating at Patrick Terminal Port Botany
Paintings of Port Botany
Left to right: the giant straddle cranes  Port Botany
75 x 100cm oil on canvas 2015

 giant straddle cranes  Port Botany
100 x 75cm oil on canvas 2015

Night panorama straddle cranes  Port Botany
31 x 153cm oil on canvas 2015

 Port Botany panorama 31 x 153cm oil on canvas 2015
Enquiries
I know that it's all in the name of efficiency, but when I left, it looked like a ghost town.
plein air oil painting by artist Jane Bennett of the last non automated straddle cranes operating at Patrick Terminal Port Botany
Night,containers,  Port Botany 25 x 31cm oil on canvas 2015
Night, Port Botany panorama 20 x 40cm oil on canvas 2015
Enquiries
As the last ship before the changeover was unloaded, a line formed of the old straddle cranes which were due to be scrapped soon after.
plein air oil painting by artist Jane Bennett of the last non automated straddle cranes operating at Patrick Terminal Port Botany
Night,containers, Port Botany
25 x 31cm oil on canvas 2015
Enquiries
 Ominously, while I was painting in my temporary gatehouse studio, I had met some of the same people both delivering and receiving career advice 7 years earlier when the East Darling Harbour Wharves  closed down to become Barangaroo.

plein air oil painting by artist Jane Bennett of the last non automated straddle cranes operating at Patrick Terminal Port Botany
PB2 'Anatoma, Port Botany' 2015 oil on canvas 28 x 36cm
Enquiries
A few weeks after my stint as 'Artist in Residence' at Port Botany, some of the port workers who had received redundancy, were called back to work when some of the robots malfunctioned and dropped a few containers in the water!

Related Posts


No comments: